Birds Die Around Fukushima Plant

In a harbinger of sad reports to come, a study in the journal Environmental Pollution says bird numbers are in dramatic decline around the Fukushima nuclear power station. Four of the six reactors there were destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami last year. The study by researchers from Japan, US and Denmark is the first major one to consider the environmental impact of the worst nuclear accident in history. Fourteen species common to Fukushima and Chernobyl show the affect of radiation on bird populations is worse in Japan's disaster zone. Two of the study's authors are veterans of research in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, still depopulated of humans twenty-five years later. In the absence of human activity around Chernobyl wildlife has begun to return to what is essentially now a wildlife refuge. However, the co-authors' research has shown the negative impact of radiation including reduction of longevity and male fertility, and physical deformations such as smaller brains. Many species show elevated DNA mutation rates and insect life has been dramatically reduced.